1. Field
The present application relates generally to wireless communications, and more specifically to methods and systems for facilitating priority indication and queuing for access terminals (ATs).
2. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, data, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., bandwidth and transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communication system can simultaneously support communication for multiple ATs. Each terminal communicates with one or more base stations via transmissions on the forward and reverse links. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from the base stations to the terminals, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the terminals to the base stations. This communication link may be established via a single-in-single-out, multiple-in-signal-out or a multiple-in-multiple-out (MIMO) system.
As a number of ATs accessing a communication system increases, network resources may not be readily available for requesting ATs. Currently in high rate packet data (HRPD) systems, an AT may back-off and may retry to access the network at a later point in time. While using such a back-off process, it is possible that some of the network resources may be freed up immediately after the request for a radio resource was denied by the network. However, the AT has backed-off this event is not recognized by the network, and as such resources are not granted until the AT retries a request. Further, during the time between attempts (e.g., after the resources are freed on the network and before a certain AT retries to obtain the resource) other ATs may request the radio resource, and the network may grant the radio resource to the other requesting ATs. As such, when the AT that was initially denied the resource retries, the resource may still not be available. Availability of resources for an AT may be more predominant when there is an emergency and/or a large number of users try to make calls at approximately the same time. This may lead to a situation where an emergency worker (e.g., fire department, police department, etc.) may have network resources requests rejected. Thus, improved apparatus and methods for facilitating priority indication and queuing for ATs are desired.